COUCHE-TARD TO ACQUIRE C-STORE RIVAL SILCORP LTD.

MONTREAL (FNS) -- Quebec's largest convenience-store chain is about to swallow its Ontario-based rival and become one of the Top 10 operators in North America. Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. here has offered to buy Toronto-based Silcorp Ltd. for $145 million ($220 million Canadian) in cash or about $15 a share, about $3 above the Silcorp share price before the announcement.The combined company would

MONTREAL (FNS) -- Quebec's largest convenience-store chain is about to swallow its Ontario-based rival and become one of the Top 10 operators in North America. Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. here has offered to buy Toronto-based Silcorp Ltd. for $145 million ($220 million Canadian) in cash or about $15 a share, about $3 above the Silcorp share price before the announcement.

The combined company would eventually look across the U.S. border for expansion, Couche-Tard's chairman said.